


Murder Bites

by Richard_B_Allsopp



Category: Murder She Wrote, Twilight (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twilight Fusion, Alternate Universe- Murder She Wrote Fusion, F/M, Family Bonding, Murder Mystery, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29010198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Richard_B_Allsopp/pseuds/Richard_B_Allsopp
Summary: Jessica Fletcher visits her nephew Charlie and his daughter Bella (who has recently moved back in with him) in Forks, attempting to get over her writer's block. Jessica seeks a rational explanation to the seemingly supernatural murders of two fishermen, and also that her great-niece's new boyfriend looks an awful lot like her own highschool ex coming back to haunt her. However, she soon finds out that truth can be stranger than fiction as the mystery surrounding her own past unravels in this Twilight/ Murder She Wrote alternate universe crossover.
Relationships: Edward Cullen/Bella Swan, Edward Cullen/Jessica Fletcher, Frank Fletcher/Jessica Fletcher
Kudos: 2





	1. the unceremonious arrival of J.B. Fletcher

Jessica Fletcher wrapped her parka coat tighter around her chest as she braced against the chill of the winter air. Her great niece Bella was late to pick her up, and knowing how clumsy she could be Jessica was worried she might have gotten herself into some trouble. The sun was starting to set over Washington, making it ever colder. Luckily sanctuary was in sight as the headlights of Bella’s beat up old truck cut through the dusk. Bella got out to greet her aunt, hugging her.  
“Hello dear,” Jessica greeted her, “I was starting to worry.”  
“Sorry, aunt Jessica, I had trouble starting the engine,” the pale seventeen year old explained.  
“It’s no trouble, really.” It had been over a decade since the two had seen each other in person; since that was when Bella’s parents had divorced so she no longer lived with Charlie, her father and Jessica’s nephew; so another hour meant very little in the grand scheme of things. “Why this truck is older than you are, it’s no wonder you had trouble!”  
“Yeah, my dad gave it to me when I moved back in with him, it’s his old one. I like it even though it’s temperamental.”  
“An old truck is better than no truck,” agreed Jessica as Bella took her suitcase for her.  
“So how long are you in town for?” Bella asked as they hit the road.  
“I’m not sure, but likely no more than a few days. I just wanted to get away from Cabot Cove to see if a change of scenery might help me get over this writer’s block.”  
“Maybe you should try to shake things up with a different genre, like horror,” suggested Bella.  
“You mean monsters and things like that? Well, Bella, I’d have to say it’s a little outside of my comfort zone. I’m better at writing what’s real.”  
“Who’s to say it’s not?” She replied ominously, staring fixedly at the unlit stretch of road ahead. Jessica did not reply, and instead looked out of her window. It was too dark to make out much, but she knew this road well enough to know that if it were lighter she’d see nothing but dense thicket. It was only a short drive, but long enough to make the older woman tired. The plane from Maine to Washington had really taken it out of her, a fact she only noticed now as trees danced like jumping sheep past her window. She had all but nodded off by the time they reached Forks.  
Charlie’s police cruiser was parked in the driveway, behind which Bella pulled in, the old break of her truck creaking with effort as they came to a less than gentle stop. It woke Jessica up at least, and she and Bella got out of the car to fetch her things. It wasn’t a fancy house by any means, but it was nice enough. “You’ll be bunking in my room, Jessica,” explained Bella as she tugged the suitcase to the front door, which she struggled to unlock, dropping her keys in typical Bella fashion. Once they got inside, Charlie called from the living room.  
“Aunt Jessica!”  
“Charlie!” Jessica greeted her nephew with enthusiasm and embraced him as soon as he was within hugging distance.  
“Can I get you anything? A beer, some food?”  
“Oh no, dear, I’m quite alright. All I need is a good night’s sleep,” she yawned.  
“Sorry you couldn’t get here earlier, Bella was having quite the time trying to start that old thing out there,” he gestured in the vague direction of the truck outside.  
“It can’t be helped. I’ll be up bright and early tomorrow morning to catch up with you.”  
“I can’t wait. I’ll let Bella show you to your room, as it’s usually hers she knows better where everything is.”  
“Thank you, Charlie.”  
Bella led Jessica down the hallway to her room. However, Bella quickly rushed in to close her laptop, which she had left open on her desk. Unfortunately, not quick enough for Jessica not to see the page it was left open on- a page titled “cold ones” with a scary looking fanged creature underneath. A vampire. Jessica realised that this sudden fascination with the occult could be why Bella had suggested she switch genres earlier in the car, but she also realised that this was likely just an adolescent phase. She didn’t think much more of it, instead putting her suitcase in front of her so she could find her toothbrush and her pyjamas while Bella closed the window, which had been left slightly ajar, causing a cold breeze to creep its way into the otherwise warm room. She knew that it would be a lot cosier now.  
“You remember where the bathroom is?” Bella asked, tugging her sleeve over her hand as she tried to shake the last of the cold that had crept into the room from her bones.  
“Yes, don’t worry about me. I’ll see you in the morning, dear.”  
“Bright and early,” she said, backing out of the room.  
Jessica went to brush her teeth, and by the time she got back the room had warmed up a treat. She read a little of her book but soon the words blurred together as she grew weary. She drifted easily to sleep.


	2. Things that don't go 'bump' in the night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a startling dream, Jessica and Charlie head down to the station to go over the notes of a recent murder in the town.

It was dark. Jessica wasn’t sure if this was a dream or if she was really half awake. Either way there was a shape at the end of her bed that shouldn’t be. It was the cold that had woken her, a familiar cold she couldn’t place. The kind that chilled you to the bone, the kind that felt like a fever. She hadn’t felt it in years, but it was commonplace in her youth. And the shape was somehow familiar too. A boy. It was a boy, she realised, squinting into the darkness to try and make out features. By the time she placed his pale, haunting face he had disappeared, and Jessica slipped once more into sleep.

The rest of her night was restful, and she woke bright and early to the sound of birds chirping in the not-too-distant woods. She always found herself in high spirits after a good night’s sleep, and today was no exception, though under her cheeriness there was a lingering dread left by last night’s dream. She had managed to convince herself it was a dream, though it had felt real. There was no possible way it could have been him.  
She set about getting ready for the day, stretching the last of her fatigue out of her arms and getting dressed in a pair of grey slacks and a white shirt, over which she pulled a blue sweater, finishing off the look with a string of pearls. Pearls that he had given her, she remembered now, all those years ago. Unsettled, she removed the pearls and placed them on the nightstand. She went out of the room to see both Bella and Charlie in the kitchen.  
“Morning, Jess,” Charlie said gruffly, still half asleep, his dark hair sticking up at an angle as if to demonstrate the fact, “Did you sleep well?”  
“Very, except…” Jessica paused, thinking back to that shadowy figure, “I had an odd dream. Or at least I hope it was a dream… It must have been a dream.”  
“What was it?” Asked Bella, furrowing her brow curiously.  
“There was a person at the end of my bed. Watching me.”  
Bella instantly dropped her plate, sending it clattering to the ground. “I’m so clumsy,” she scolded herself, bending down to clean up the mess, which allowed her to hide her shock-stricken face.  
“The oddest thing is…” Jessica continued, also bending down to assist with the clean up, “I’m sure it was Eddie, the boy I dated briefly in high school before Frank.”  
“Eddie?” Bella repeated the name as if she were afraid of it, her voice catching in her throat, her heart pounding.  
“Yes, Eddie. Edward. That’s why it must have been a dream. Him and his family moved away a short while after we ended things and I never heard from him again. He’d be an old man now, if he’s even still alive. He was a year older than me, 17 when I was 16. We were only together a couple of months. It wasn’t very serious, or it wasn’t to me.”  
“I have to go,” Bella blurted out, “I’m late for school.”  
“Bella, it’s not even seven o’clock yet,” Charlie pointed out, checking his watch and then comparing it to the clock that hung on the wall just to make sure he wasn’t wrong.  
“I- uh-I have to head to the library to catch up on some homework,” she insisted, already halfway through the door, coat hanging off one shoulder.  
“Well. Ok. Bye then.” Charlie simply shrugged and sipped his coffee, dismissing Bella’s mood. She’d not been back here long and things were still slightly awkward between them so he didn’t want to cause upset or arguments. Once the door slammed shut behind her he turned to his aunt, “Sorry about that. Can I get you a coffee? The pot’s still warm”  
“Yes please, dear.”  
He fumbled slightly and spilled a drop on the side. “I’m not usually up this early,” he made the excuse, “I’ve been called in to assist with a case.” He scratched his head, calming his wild bed head slightly, “Come to think of it, would it be too much to ask you to look over some of the notes? Of course I don’t want to keep you from your writing, it’s just that it’s stumped the guys and, to be quite honest, it’s starting to stump me too.”  
“It’s no trouble at all- in fact it might be just what I need to get me over my own stump! What’s the case?”  
“Thanks, Jess, it’d be a real help. It’s two fishermen, found together. We’re assuming that only one was the intended vic, though we can’t even figure out which. It’s unlike any murder we’ve seen before, not that we get many round here of course. If you come with me to the station I can tell you more and get you the case file.”  
“Of course, I’d be more than happy to accompany you. It’d be nice to see what’s changed now that you’re sheriff.”  
“Great, you ready to go?”  
“Yes, but, uh, Charlie, one small problem…” Jessica pointed out, “You’re still in your pyjamas!” The two laughed, then Charlie went to get dressed and to comb his hair (and his moustache, which was also somehow affected by bed head).  
Once he was ready the two hopped into his cruiser, which ran much smoother than Bella’s old truck, though she had certainly made a speedy getaway in it this morning. They were at the station in no time. An enthusiastic young detective greeted them, recognising Jessica as J.B. Fletcher, one of his favourite authors. Charlie paid little mind to this dec, knowing full well that his aunt’s novels were very popular around the station. He simply asked for the notes of the murder case, a wish quickly granted by the young man who buzzed around the station excitedly.  
Jessica put on her reading glasses and settled in Charlie’s office chair. The file was far too slim to skim over any single word. With details this sparse, each one could prove crucial. She read that there was very little blood at the scene despite the extensive injuries of both victims, suggesting perhaps that the bodies had been moved, though there was oddly no evidence of that either.  
“Can you see why I was so keen to get your expertise down here?” Charlie asked once Jessica finished up and placed the notes carefully on his desk.  
“Well it’s certainly not a lot to go on, but I wouldn’t downplay your own expertise in this particular case, Charlie. Doesn’t it remind you of another? Think about the last time I was here…”  
“The Donatelli case? The wife who murdered her husband and made it look like a home invasion?”  
“And you solved that one on your own-”  
“- I certainly had your help-”  
“And the injuries certainly are similar.”  
“Now that you mention it, Jess, I did think of that case. But the murderer’s firmly behind bars. You don’t think it could be a copycat, do you?”  
Jessica paused to think for a moment. “It seems unlikely, but maybe Mrs. Donatelli can help explain the similarities.”  
“Genius. I knew I had the right idea asking for your help.”  
“Oh, I’m sure you would have got there on your own eventually.”  
And so Charlie called up the Penitentiary Prison to arrange a meeting with a woman who had confessed to being a murderer well over a decade ago.


	3. Reconsiderations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie and Jessica begin investigating, but every lead seems to be a dead end. Meanwhile Bella does some investigation of her own as the enigmatic Edward pervades her every thought.

The sky was dark and moody as Charlie pulled up to the prison gate. He didn’t relish seeing anyone he’d put behind bars, let alone a self-confessed murderer. Not much could shake the world-weary sheriff, but he certainly didn’t feel comfortable as the gate buzzed to let him in. He went through the usual rigmarole that goes with a prison visit and found a seat. Soon enough Mrs Donatelli appeared, taking a seat opposite Charlie. Though the two were separated by glass, Charlie could tell that the years had been rough on the woman. Both picked up the phone.  
“Hello.” The politeness of the greeting confounded Charlie. There was no malice behind it, in fact there was nothing but warmth. It was certainly not the cold acknowledgement of a cold-blooded killer.  
“Mrs. Donatelli, I was hoping you could help me. I know it’s a lot to ask.”  
“Not at all, sugar, but I don’t know how much help I’ll be.”  
“Well you see, there are a lot of similarities between a double murder that has just been uncovered and that of your husband.”  
Her demeanor instantly changed, her smile falling. “I can’t help you with that.”  
“I just wanted to go over some details.”  
“I said I can’t help. I don’t know anything,” she admitted, putting a hand against her forehead as if in pain.  
“What do you mean you don’t know anything? You confessed to the killing.”  
“Listen, I know that. You think I don’t know that? Where the Hell do you think we are right now? But I told you, I don’t know anything.”  
“How can you not know anything if you were the one who did it?”  
There was a short, heavy silence between them.  
“Off the record? I only confessed because I was too afraid to live in that house. I knew that I’d be safer in here than out there. After those monsters killed my Larry...”  
“Monsters?”  
“Think about the way he was found, Mr. Swan. There’s nothing rational that could explain it. I’m sure it’s the same with those fishermen. I can’t help you.”  
“If you’re innocent you shouldn’t be in here.”  
“If you try to get me out, I’ll lie again.”  
There wasn’t much that could shake Charlie Swan. But this had.

He drove to meet Jessica at the diner for lunch like they had planned. She was scribbling away at a notepad when he arrived. “Past your writer’s block?” He asked.  
“Unfortunately no,” replied Jess, shaking her head, “I was just trying to make sense of this case of yours. Any luck with Mrs Donatelli?”  
Charlie sighed a long, laborious sigh, “No. Now she said she didn’t want this to be public knowledge, which I can’t get my head around, but she said she didn’t do it. And I believe her. I feel just awful for locking her up.”  
“But didn’t she confess?”  
“Well yeah, but apparently only because she was too afraid to stay in the house. She kept saying it was monsters that killed him.”  
“Monsters?”  
“I know, it’s impossible.”  
“Maybe. You know this isn’t the first I’ve heard about monsters since I got into town,” said Jessica, thinking back to her car ride yesterday, “I think I need to talk to Bella.”

Bella hadn’t gone straight to school when she fled from her home that morning. She had driven around town, trying to clear her head, but she could only avoid her thoughts for so long. All of them were Edward Cullen, the mysterious boy who seemed to hate her but had saved her life when a car had almost hit her. Everything about him seemed impossible. Surely he couldn’t be the boy her great aunt had courted in high school. It all had to be coincidence. Yet there was something in the back of her mind telling her that was even more impossible. How long can a person stay 17?  
However, when she eventually got to school, she was surprised to find out from her friends that Edward had been looking for her. “Yeah, it’s weird because he doesn’t normally talk to anyone,” Angela said, “It must have been important.”  
He appeared suddenly by her side as she walked in. It startled her. She felt his presence before she saw him, a coldness creeping up her spine like she’d never felt before.  
“Who’s the woman staying with you?” He demanded. He sounded panicked almost, perhaps even scared.  
“My great aunt. Jessica Fletcher,” the two walked down the hallway, which seemed more quiet than usual, “Wait, how did you know someone was staying with me.”  
Edward smirked the same way he had when he explained how he had saved her. “I saw you driving her through town yesterday evening. You didn’t see me because it was dark.”  
“I- I don’t believe you.”  
“How else could I have known?” Without waiting for an answer (which she couldn’t provide in any case), he sauntered away to meet up with the other Cullens, who crowded his locker like a murder of crows. The cold he had brought lingered in his absence, reaching into the cavity of her chest and wrapping its icy fingers around her anxious heart. She hurried to her classroom, but in the quiet lulls between teacher’s questions she found herself unable to think of math, with only monsters in her mind.


End file.
